


I Didn't Ask For This

by Spectascopes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Apocalypse, Dark, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Other, Possession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 20:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5429342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spectascopes/pseuds/Spectascopes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans waits for the child in the final hallway. Everything he thought he knew about the anomaly was wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Didn't Ask For This

 

They walked into the corridor on legs that seemed to be moving mechanically. They stared at you with two voids in the place of eyes. It made your blood run cold to even watch them. They stared at the ground as they approached until they were only a little ways from where you stood. They looked up and tilted their head.

They were treating living, breathing monsters as toys- as simple playthings. How many times had they reset? How many people had they killed, only to go back and kill again? You didn't know anything about the other timelines, but from what they'd done you knew it couldn't be good.

“You've been busy, looks like,” you said. You wouldn't deny that you were terrified of them and their blank face and their emotionless eyes. But you thought of your dead brother and your dead neighbors and your dead friends and suddenly you weren't so scared.

They said absolutely nothing. They didn't react- didn't even blink. They took a step forward.

“Don't. Take one more and I'm gonna have to do something you won't like.”

They took one more as if on cue.

You sent a bone flying at their head. They moved in time so that it struck their ear- blood flowed onto their neck and shoulder and stained the fabric and dust laying on their skin. They didn't seem to care.

“Do ya think I want to do this, kid?” you asked through gritted teeth. “Put down the damn knife and back off. This is your last warning.”

They stared at you. Their brow furrowed as they looked down at their weapon. You stayed weary until it fell out of their hands.

You had them in a second. You held them in place and put a sharpened bone to their throat. They really thought you'd spare them after what they'd done? You weren't-

“Do you think I want to do this?” came a monotone, flat voice. You were jolted from your thoughts as they spoke. They'd never spoken before. This was the first time.

“Well seeing that you're the one going around and stabbing people, then yeah, I'd say you do.”

“You're wrong,” they said. It threw you off enough for the bone to dissipate. You used your magic to grab their knife and throw it away, but they didn't move. Even when you let go of them, they just fell to their knees and stared at you.

“What?”

“I said you're wrong, Sans,” they said. If you had skin, it would've been crawling. Their stare went right through you and into your soul.

“I don't want to kill you. I didn't want to kill Papyrus. I didn't want to kill Undyne, or Alphys, or even Mettaton. This is the only way.”

“I knew you were crazy, kid, but-”

“You would go insane, too,” they said. They blinked and looked at the knife that was far away from them. “It would take a long time for me to kill you. I don't want to do that.”

You didn't know what to say. When they killed in silence you thought it was because... because it was just what they did. You didn't know what to think.

“It's been a long time, Sans. I don't know how long. Hundreds? Thousands? I'm not sure anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” you managed through your growing unease.

They stared at you. That's all they ever did.

“Answer me!” you shouted. It wasn't cool of you. It didn't matter- anybody who cared what you sounded like was already dead.

“Years. I did this because you told me to. Because you all got happy ending after happy ending and I never got an ending at all.”

The horror was building in your chest. You took a step away from the child, but they only looked at the stained glass overhead and continued.

“I am not a child, Sans. I'm much older than you are. I know more than you will ever know. I am more than you will ever be. Effectually, I'm immortal. I never asked for that. This is the only way for me to end it.”

You were shaking. They raised a hand to touch the blood covering the side of their face. They were unfazed.

“This is the first time I've killed anybody. I reset more times than I can remember. Humans aren't meant to live as long as I have. Things get jumbled together and things get lost when your mind is only so large. After I got through Papyrus, I think it destroyed what little soul was left inside of me. I'm empty.”

“If this is a joke it isn't fucking funny,” you growled.

“It isn't a joke. I wish it was a joke. I've met so many Sans-es, I've grown up living with you and Papyrus in Snowdin. I've grown up with you on the Surface. I've lived in timelines where you and Toriel formally adopted me. I've lived far too long, Sans.”

You had nothing to say. Your mind was whirling. You'd never thought that the anomaly would be... this. They- _it_ \- watched you with an unfaltering stare.

“It isn't my choice to reset. There's a demon in my head-” they tapped their skull- “and the demon doesn't remember the resets. They will not be happy until I've done what they've asked. They will not let me die until I've obeyed them. I want to die, Sans.”

You stumbled backwards. The child slowly rose to their feet. When you looked, you could see it. There was a depth as deep and as black as the universe behind their eyes. Any doubt you had about the truth was eradicated.

“I don't want to kill you,” they said. “You've been my friend, my brother, my father, you've given me more than I ever deserved. The demon inside of me wants me to kill you, but it isn't necessary. If I go forward to the throne room and proceed, it will be The End. Let me pass, Sans. Let me die.”

You stared at the floor as they came closer. They took their knife from the floor and approached you. You looked up expecting to see it coming down into your skull, but they just stood over you with those wide and dim eyes.

“How many resets... how many times...?”

“I stopped keeping track after three hundred. That was a long time ago. I tried to forget. None of them were voluntary.”

You watched the knife. They didn't move an inch. Bloodlust was pouring from them in waves, but you no longer felt threatened. When something moved, you looked sharply, but it was only their hand.

“Get up. I may be empty but I don't want to see you the same.” 

It was all true. As you took their hand and they helped you to your feet, you realized without a doubt that everything they'd said had been true. You came face-to-face with the bottomless eyes and you lost yourself in them for a while. They let you. 

So many hundreds of resets. So many years of repeating the same loop, of doing the same thing, or completing lap after lap after lap except the race lasted their entire life. You wondered for just a moment what it would be like to seek death like they were. You felt sympathy grow in your chest.

“I'm doing this for all of us,” they said. “The resets will continue until I'm no longer alive, just a moving body working from muscle memory alone.”

You tore yourself from their eyes and took in their whole face. They were so young. They were so small. They were in so much pain that you couldn't even comprehend it. You had seen it in their eyes.

“I wasn't lying when I told you that this is the only timeline where I've killed any of you. I have known all of you for longer than you can imagine. Killing Papyrus was like killing myself, only the pain didn't go away. It never will. I can't go back now. I want you to understand, Sans. I've killed my own mother. I've killed my friend and brother. I've killed my best friends and my family. I do not want to kill you.”

Silent tears fell from their eyes. It was like watching water leak from a drip- there was no emotion. They showed nothing. You looked down at them.

“Please don't make me kill you, Sans.” 

You were crying. You clutched Papyrus's scarf where it was laid around your neck. You shut your eyes tight.

A hand touched your shoulder. You looked at Frisk- that was their name, you remembered- and saw the knife in their small little hand. 

“I'm sorry.”

You stared into their eyes for a moment longer. You reached down with shaking hands and took the knife from them- they handed it over without protest. There it was- deep, deep in the universe of their eyes you saw trust. They trusted you. Even after everything- they trusted you not to kill them.

You didn't. They must have known what you were going to do, though, because they gently took the knife back.

“I don't want to watch you do it yourself,” they said, their voice changing very very slightly to become softer. “I will be quick, and it will be over, and you won't be in pain. Go sit down. Whatever happens next will be my problem to deal with.”

You hesitated, but then obeyed. You walked over to the wall and fell against it and slid to your knees. Your brother's scarf felt so heavy on your shoulders.

They remained in the center of the room as they watched you go. While you sobbed, you looked back at them. You didn't have words. The enormity of what was about to happen weighed on your tired body like steel, and your lungs were crushed.

They held the knife tight in their hands.

“Goodbye, Sans. I would give anything to go back to that first time, when I was young and innocent and you were happy. I've always hated seeing you cry.”

You sobbed and looked away. You couldn't take this- this was cruel. You prayed that when it was all over you'd see Papyrus again, and you could hold him and have snowball fights with him and forget any of this ever happened. You were remembering things. The End was so close that time itself was beginning to tear at the seams. 

You heard their footsteps echo down the hall as they continued on. Space felt heavy. Time seemed to be ticking at a pace so very slightly off, but not enough to notice. But just enough to notice. Everything was ending. The footsteps stopped.

“I love you, Sans,” they said. And then they were gone. It felt like an eternity yet only seconds before there was a noise like nothing and everything and it all went black and white at the same time.

The End consumed everything.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I thought Chara was the determined one.  
> This is just angsty musings because I had this thought one day and couldn't contain myself


End file.
